best way? VCR to DVD

[video_killed_radio]

Need Some Advice

I have a bunch of old family videos on VHS and have endeavored to convert them to DVD. Since then, I bought a Canopus ADVC 1394 capture card and a Hi Val 4X DVD+/-R/RW burner (for the burner, at $100, I have absolutely NO complaints!). I’ve been reading some of the posts on this wonderful and informative site and I’ve heard many opinions, points of view, etc as to what is needed to get the best quality DVD made from the VHS tapes. Also, since I’ve chosen to do this initially, some new types of DVD players have surfaced that can record DVD-R’s.

So, I present the following options that follow. Assuming that money is no object (within reason, of course), which of the following would, bar none, provide the highest quality conversions and with the most convenience? (I’m leaning toward the DVD Recorder and a good VCR for this one).

1. Buy a JVC VHS player (with the built in TBC function) and capture on my computer with my Canopus card. Convert to DVD w/ Sonic MyDVD (in my opinion, the best one quality wise!).
2. Buy the standalone DVD-R recorder for my TV. I can then play the VHS tape and record it straight to DVD on the fly which prevents any loss of quality due to compression (AVI to MPEG2, etc). I’m really intrigued with this one and it’s what I’m leaning towards. Again, quality is the absolute key here.
3. Buy the TBC1000 and run it with a decent VCR. This will give me a better capture on my computer.

So, if anyone has bought one of those standalone DVD-R recorders and has some useful info, I’m all ears! That’s my primary choice right now pending further advice from this forum. I figure that I could record the DVD with the standalone recorder, then import it into my computer and use Sonic MyDVD to make menus, chapters, etc. and “re-burn” it without any loss of quality.

Thanks for all comments/advice!

[fscrocco]

Definately get the dvd recorder! I went the route of getting a matrox capture card a few years ago before standalone dvd recorders were affordable. By the time I bought the capture card, big hard drive, ram, fastest cpu at the time, encoding software, etc. I spent way more money. You then have to worry about dropped frames if your HD is not fast enough. BTW it is recommended to capture to a different HD then the one that has your system files because everytime the swap file is accessed, there is a possibility for dropped frames. Now, if everything goes perfectly, which it won't, you then spend hours waiting for the captured file to be encoded to a dvd compliant mpeg file. When I was doing it a few years back, it was something like 30 hours to transcode 1 hour of video, but is probably a little faster today. Oh, I forgot, I was capturing in mjpeg. Some capture card today capture right to mpg, but I don't know if it is hardware assisted, which you would want, because software on-the-fly encoding usually causes dropped frames
Long winded, but I have a lot of experience with this, and I would highly recommend a standalone recorder. It gives you on-the-fly hardware compression. I have the Panasonic dmr-e20, which is one of the first ones sold in the USA and I love it. I record to ram, bring it into my computer via a Toshiba 1712 DVD/CD reader (paid $41 at A2Z computer a year ago), rip the .vro file from the ram disk (one contiguous file), change the extension to mpg, bring into Ulead DVD Workshop, author, and burn on my Sony DRU 500 +/- burner. TMPEGenc DVD Author is also great and easy to use authoring software to deal with .vro files, because it works with ac-3 files. Ulead DVD Workshop does also, you just author the file with the embedded 2-channel ac-3 and when you go to the final screen to burn, there is a check box that says "do not convert compliant files", it then "passes the audio through" without converting it. Also, passes the video thru without re-encoding. The is a lot of info on Standalone to PC burners, with authoring, editing, etc. available at vcdhelp.com and avsforum.com. I've become pretty much an expert at it. If you need more info, just ask on this forum, give me an e-mail address, and I'll make a long tutorial on all aspects of this subject.
Also, the Panasonic standalones have a built in time-base corrector and other video enhancement capabilities that make home movies from vhs tapes look better than the original.

[video_killed_radio]

Wow! A GIANT help!

I'm looking into getting a standalone unit as we speak! I'm checking out the Panasonic models you mentioned.

Thanks again for the great reply!

[Bob W]

You know I spent more money buying a capture card and many software programs than it would have cost me for my Panasonic e50 recorder. Spent many wasted hours doing captures with results that varried all over the map only to discover the DVD recorder does a better job of VHS conversions the first time and every time.

[offline]

DVD recorder does a better job of VHS conversions the first time and every time.

Not in my experience but I have to admit I'm a fairly fussy PAL user and strive for the impossible goal of DVD quality from VHS. YMMV 8)

[Deckedout]

I have to agree that the DVD recorders are the best way to go. I have the Sony GX7 and I love it. The sales person at Best Buy told me that the Sony records pixel by pixel as opposed to the Phillips I was looking at which records frame by frame. Quality is very important to me when I am talking about family videos, especially when some of the people on the tape are no longer here. I recorded the tapes using the original camcorder that I had taped them on in the first place. Using a newer digital camera that will play the older 8mm tapes, washes out the color too much. I am so happy with the results. The DVD quality is better than the original tape, if for nothing else, for the fact that you can pause the DVD and see a clear picture, and not a jumpy paused tape. I'm really glad I got a DVD recorder and I'm happy with my Sony.

[SatStorm]

The faster and easiest root, is a DVD standalone recorder. About 85% of the results you can succeed with PCs, but faster, easier, instantly and without any need to became a master of video convertion.

The other root needs time to master it, and time is something some people simply don't have.

Of course, don't expect 4 hours on 1 DVD-R this way. 2 Hours is the most and if the tape is bad, 1 hour is the best you can get.

[geek rock]

remember, as good as DVD recorders are, you have little to no customisation options, you're unable to do any advanced editing, or make custom menus, add alternate audio tracks, set the bitrate and encoding options you want, etc etc etc.

it is, like others have said, a quick and dirty solution. i myself, and i'm sure many others, prefer the computer route. you simply have full control.

-Mark